Agriculture & environment: Beef
Beef and dairy production. Top ten countries. Source: FAO
Table of Facts
Production
Area Under Cultivation - 3,459.8 million ha- Herd - 1,346.4 million (animals)
- Meat - 56.5 million MT
- Slaughter - 277.8 million (animals)
- Milk - 488.2 million MT
Average Productivity - 21 kg/ha (meat), 203 kg/animal (carcass), 21% (slaughter/herd)
Producer Price - $1,309 per MT (meat)
Producer Value at Slaughter - $73,958 million (meat)
International Trade
Share of World Production - 23% (meat) Exports- Meat - 13.1 million MT
- Hides - 2.0 million MT
- Meat - $2,322 per MT
- Hides - $1,675 per MT
- Meat - $30,434 million
- Hides - $3,325 million
Principal Producing Countries/Blocs (by weight)
Principal Exporting Countries/Blocs- Boneless - Australia, United States, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada
- Bone in - Germany, France, United States, Netherlands, Ukraine
- Boneless - United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Egypt, South Korea, Germany
- Bone in - Italy, Russia, France, South Korea, United States, Greece
Major Environmental Impacts
- Habitat conversion
- Overgrazing
- Feedlot pollution
- Production of feed grains
Potential to Improve
- Good
- Organic guidelines exist
- Natural beef certification exists
- Grass-fed beef can reduce pressure for grain-fed beef
- Better practices known for some areas
Credits
Extracts from "World Agriculture & Environment" by Jason Clay - buy the book online from Island Press
